These days, the Internet communication network is binding the whole world into one network with computers. The Internet has already become a part of life. Internet users are not limited to a specific group of people who use the Internet for specific purposes for a short time, and the Internet is taking its position among average people who use it as means for obtaining information for everyday life or spending their leisure time.
While there are likely several reasons for the increase in the base of Internet users, the development of Personal Computer (PC) operating systems from the Disk Operating System (DOS), which is difficult to use, into the Windows operating system, which is easy and convenient to use, can also be regarded as one reason.
One of characteristics of the Windows operating system is the convenient use of various types of instruction input means, such as a mouse, a joystick, or a digitizer, at the same time instead of limiting the instruction input means to a keyboard. This characteristic allows a user to execute intended instructions even if he/she does not understand the operating system or instructions of the computer system.
However, even in such an environment, the use of the keyboard is essential in order to input the address of a website, an ID, a password, a keyword, or the like. This is ultimately caused by the characteristics of the alphabet system, which includes many components. Specifically, the English alphabet includes 26 consonants and vowels, and Hangul (the Korean alphabet) includes 33 consonants and vowels (including consonant digraphs and vowel digraphs).
In addition, since the address of a website that a user intends to visit while Internet surfing must be input into the address bar as a text string, a handicapped person, who can use a mouse, a joystick, or the like but has difficulty using a keyboard because of a disabled hand, or an elderly person or child, who is clumsy and has difficulty operating the keyboard, visits only his/her favorite websites by unavoidably coming to rely on the mouse. Therefore, there is a problem in that the use of the Internet, which contains a wide range of functions and vast amounts of information, is limited.
In order to solve this problem, a text input window, which is provided on a web browser or a website such that intended text can be input using only a mouse, and a text input method using the text input window have been proposed.
A description is given below of a text input window and a text input method using the same of the related art with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a view showing the screen of a typical web browser, FIG. 2 is a view showing the state in which a text input window of the related art is displayed above the web browser, and FIG. 3 is a view showing the configuration of the screen of the text input window of the related art.
As shown in FIG. 1, the typical web browser 10 includes a web page window 12, on which an accessed web page is displayed, a toolbar 14, on which tools necessary for using the web browser are displayed, and an address bar 16, into which the address of the website that the user intends to access is input. In addition, when the accessed web page is a portal site or a website, a search window 18 into which a keyword is input is displayed on the web page.
Here, when a mouse cursor is located in the address bar 16 or the search window 18, and a signal is input using a function key (not shown) of the mouse to operate the text input window, a text input window 20 is displayed on the web browser, as shown in FIG. 2. The text input window 20 includes a virtual keyboard 22, which has keys configured substantially the same as on an actual keyboard, a preview window 24, on which a corresponding letter is displayed when the user clicks a key by locating the mouse cursor on the virtual keyboard, and execution buttons 26, which are used to input an execution signal to send or cancel an input letter.
Therefore, when the user clicks a letter key on the virtual keyboard 22 using the mouse, the corresponding letter is displayed in the preview window 24. When one execution button 26 is pushed after the process of inputting text is completed, the text displayed in the preview window 24 is input into the address bar 16 or the search window 18. Accordingly, the text input window 20 of the related art makes it possible to input text on the web browser 10 using only the mouse.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for the enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art that would already be known to a person skilled in the art.